Manufacture of glass cylinders



Nov. 1 1929. c. H. H ARDING 1 736,005

MANUFACTURE OF GLASS CYLINDERS Filed June 21, 1927 2 Sheets-Sheet 1F'lGl' INVENTOR 7% an; 2, e ahkq,

-. Nov. 19, 1929. c. H. HARDING MANUFACTURE. OF, GLASS CYLINDERS medJune 21, 1927 2 Sheets-Sheet. 2

ratified Nov. 19, was

CJE. 7 Y

,MANUFAGTUBEOF GLASS CYLINDERS Application filed. June 21,

It is the object of the invention to improve the manufacture of drawnglass cylinders, and the invention consists in a new method ofmanufacture whereby conditions tending toward uniformity of product areneutralized or overcome,'the result including not only a uniformproduct, but a minimum of breakage both in the drawing ofthe cylinders,and in the subsequent operations of flattening and cutting the glass aswell.

In the accompanying drawings I Show one form ofapparatus which is thebest now knownto me for the practice of the invention, but the inventionitself resides in the new method of manufacture about to be describedand which may be practiced by the use of apparatus of various types.Figure 1 is a view in sectional elevation of a suitable organizationincluding a pair of draw- 5:) ing pots and a melting-out furnace, aportion of the drawing mechanism being shown conventionally only. Figure2 is a vertical section of a portion of the apparatus on a larger scale.Figure 3 is a plan sketch showing one 35 of the pots of each of twomachines arranged side by side in the factory.

The pots are mounted upon spiders 1 secured to a shaft 2 in suchposition that they stand to one another at an angle less than a rightangle, so that when one pot, as the pot 3, is in the upper vhorizontalposition, the other pot, as the pot 3?, is in the lower,in-' vertedinclined draining position in the mouth of the inclined upper wall ofthe kiln or melting-out furnace 4. The pot support consists of an opencylindrical'socket 5 having an upper flange 6 and a lower flange 7,

the flange 6 being rigidly connected by diametrically opposite angleirons 8 to the spiders 1. The pot-supporting plate 9 carries a dependingcylindrical member 10 fitting within said cylindrical socket 5, havingan upper flange 11 above the flange 6, and a bottom plate 12 below theflange 7. The 453 flanges 6 and 11 and the flange 7 and the plate 12 areprovided with ball races within which are arranged the balls 13, andbetween the cylindrical socket 5 and the depending member 10 arearranged the vertical rollers 14, held in place above and below by theanto the pota reciprocatory turning movement 1927. Serial no. 200,375.

nular steel strips 15; The plate 9 is",provlded with the annular teeth16 arranged at such an angle that when the pot is in the invertedposition shownin Figure 1 sa id teeth Wlll mesh wlth the pinion 17 whichis turned by any-suitable means to turn the inverted pot on its axisduring the reheating'fand draining operation. The axial turning of thepot during the remelting of the glass residue is not newwith me but isshown and de- -'60 scribed in United States Letters Patent No.,1,620,e0s.

I Although it is an operation which I prefer to employ in the practiceof the pres-'1 ent invention to the best'advantage, it is not anessential feature of the inventionflin its ts the cylinder is drawn."Various means and methods have been suggestedfor counteract-' (=75 mgor overcoming the effect of such irregularities, and some of these havebeen used extensively with varying success. It has also I beendemonstrated that intelligent' practice of the operation of axiallyturning the pot Fed during remelting'of the aftermath, as abovedescribed, very largely doesaway-withirre'g- 'ularities in surfacetension. But'the'l'atter operation is neither alprev'entive nor acomplete antidote for allcauses of irregularity {s5 or other structuralblemishes in the product.

I have discovered that the operation of drawing a glass cylinder from apot of molten glass is furthergreatlyimprovedby giving or oscillation onits-axis during the drawing operation, without any turning ofthe bait,correspondingly or otherwise, but lifting the bait upwardly without anyturning, in the usual way. For the preferred practice of my improvedmethod 11 apparatus] such as'is shown conventionally in'Figur'e 3may'beemployed. Referring to Figure '3, the crankdisk 1 8'is turned by anysuitable-motor, not shown,and has pivotallyconnected to it the 1 00 vbar 19 which will be reciprocated longitudinally by the rotation of thedisk 18. The bar I 19 has the laterally projecting pins 20, and on eachof the pins 20 is hinged a rod 21 having a hooked end adapted to beengaged in a hole 22 in the periphery'of the pot-support 9, the

horizontally positioned pots 8 of two machines like that ofxFigure 1being shown on V Figure 3.

jacent to the bait will have become set, the hooked rod 21 is throwninto engagement with the hole 22, and during the upward travel of thebodyof the'cylinder the pot 3 is turned back and forth gently on itsaxis, without any turning movement of the bait 23. Meanwhile thepreviously used pot 3 is being reheated and drained, while beingindependently turnedvon its own axis, as already ex plainedand as shownin Figure 1. When the rising eylinder has been drawn to its full lengththe hooked rod 21. is disconnected and thrown beckon its rest 24, andthe cylinder turning.

der upwardly from a body of molten glass in a pot, and turning the poton its axis while. restraining the body of the cylinder from turning.

2. The method of manufacture of glass cylinders whichcomprises drawingthe cylinder upwardly by means of a bait from a body of molten glass ina pot, and turning the pot on its axis while restraining the bait from3'. .Themethod of manufacture of glass cylinders which comprises drawingthe cylinder upwardly from a body of molten glass in a pot and turningthe pot in opposite directions on its'axis while drawing.

In testimony whereof I have hereunto set my hand. V

, CHARLES H; HARDING.

is cut off and taken down in the usual way. I

v The pots are then reversed in position and the drawing operation isrepeated with the pot 3 The timing and amplitude of the axialoscillation- "ofthe pot'm-ay' be varied by operators of ordinary skillin machine drawing to y 7' suit conditions. The movement should not I berapid and the reversals of movement should not be abrupt. 10f adiameterof about thirty inches from a .pot of an internal diameter of forty-twoIn drawing a cylinder inches, I have achieved good results by oscillations of the pot on chords varying from four inches toover twelveinches. With a pot and cylinder of the sizes given an oscillation ofabout eight'to ten inches has been found to be suflicient.

It isnot, necessary 1n all cases that the pet I shall be oscillatedcontinuously throughout the drawing of the cylinder, but on the otherhand the rod '21 may be thrown intoor out of connection. with the pot atanytime duringthe draw as and when it may be considered by the operatorto be necessary or desirable. Nor-is the invention limited toreciprocatory axial turning of the pot, for in many cases it willbefound that irregularity in the bath or other conditions can be correctedby the workman simply turning the potvi-n one direction by means of ahook, or by shifting it axiallyfrom time to time as may-be desired. Iclaimas my invention 1. The method"of'manufactureof glass 7 cylinderswhich comprises drawing the cylin-

